NORFOLK, Va. - ODU Director of Broadcasting, Ted Alexander caught up with head field hockey coach, Andrew Griffiths and some of his players to discuss their upcoming season.

This is a groundbreaking year for field hockey at Old Dominion, as the program enters a new conference with a new head coach. ODU’s field hockey program officially joined the BIG EAST Conference as an associate member on July 1st.

Joining the BIG EAST as an associate member in 2013 along with Louisville, Temple, Connecticut and Rutgers, the Lady Monarchs will play a seven-game conference schedule that also features Villanova, Providence and Georgetown in addition to their challenging non-conference slate. Their non-conference schedule includes the likes of Penn State, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Duke and Michigan State.

Griffiths, was the head field hockey coach at Lafayette College the past six years who led the Maroon and White to a 17-3 season this past fall and an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.

Old Dominion University has competed as a field hockey member of the CAA since 1992, winning the regular season title 14 times and tournament title 15 times. Old Dominion is coming off a 15-6 campaign a year ago and advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals after going 7-0 and capturing their record 15th CAA title in their last year in the league. The Lady Monarchs have been ranked in the Top-10 in the National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) poll for 22 consecutive weeks dating back to the 2011 season.

For the second consecutive year, Old Dominion will host the NCAA Division I national title game along with the national semifinals on Nov. 22 and 24. In addition, the Division II and Division III national title games will also be played at the L.R. Hill Sports Complex on Nov. 24.

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